If Gary Larson’sThe Far Sideloves one thing, it’s nature, and that obsession with flora and fauna doesn’t stop at the shoreline. Here are the 10 funniestFar Sidecomics that star dolphins and whales, as Larson brings his surreal (and somewhat morbid) sense of humor to Earth’ssecondsmartest residents.
Larson used dolphins and whales in his gags from thevery beginning ofThe Far Side, leading to many laugh-out-loud strips. Be sure tovote in our end-of-article pollfor the comic strip you think most deserves the #1 spot.
10Whale Watchers
Larson Loved the ‘Weird Neighbors’ Gag
In this strip, two whales are unfortunate enough to move in next to a couple of whale watchers who clearly have no intention of giving them a moment’s peace.This strip actually flips the dynamic of one of Larson’s favorite jokes- a beleaguered, all-American family forced to cope with bizarre neighbors, ranging from aliens to cavemen to a troop of howler monkeys.
In this case, it’s the ‘weird’ characters who have to put up with excessive human attention. Larson perfectly captures the exasperated expressions of his whale characters while also using the foreground and background to show two different locations within the same panel - a frequent trick that allowedThe Far Sideto pack in as much context as possible.
9Tuna Punks
A Real-World Ecological Issue Gets the Far Side Spin
In this strip, Larson turns a very real threat to dolphin populations into a far more human problem. In the strip, a dolphin’s parents worry that their kid’s tuna friends are a bad influence liable to get him into trouble. It’s a funny gag rooted in the textbookFar Sidemove of dropping animals into human situations, but it’s also based on a very real threat to dolphins that’s indeed linked to ‘hanging around’ with tuna.
In the wild, dolphins and certain types of tuna swim together - indeed, some anglers use the presence of dolphins (who break the water’s surface when swimming) to spot tuna. However, certain types of fishing like purse seine fishing simply gather up all the fish in a given area, meaning that dolphins end up being caught alongside the tuna that are the actual target. Indeed, some sources estimate that as many as 4,000,000 dolphins have died as a byproduct of tuna fishing since 1950. No wonder Larson has so manycomics that combine fishing and death!
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8Harpoon
Far Side’s First Ever Comic Without a Caption
In another gag with a conservationist slant, an angler lets loose with a harpoon, only to find that his quarry is significantly larger than he’d guessed. Published June 13, 2025,this is the third everFar Sidecomic, and the very first to be published withno captionandno words at all. Of course, there’s very little to say, as the human character’s bad luck is plain to see.
InThe Complete Far Side,Larson writes that he always considered it essential to nail the expressions in his art, as those are what really sell the comedy. Despite being an earlyFar Sidestrip where Larson’s signature style isn’t quite in full force, that rule about using the perfect expressions is clearly already being observed.
7Squeaky Shoes
In what’s surely the goofiest entry in this list, a man returns his new shoes because they’re squeaking, seemingly not realizing they’re doing so because they’re actually a pair of dolphins. The humor is so surreal that it has the sense ofsomething likeThe New Yorker Caption Contest, where the image is drawn first and the gag written to match it. As revealed inThe Complete Far Side,thisissometimes how Larson works, having a funny image in mind and sometimes even getting as far as drawing it without nailing down what the accompanying caption is going to be.
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6Fitness Class
This Far Side Gag Comes with Some Unsettling Art
In a comic that’s likely slightly more disturbing than intended, a pod of whales have worked out so much that they’ve shed the pounds and have skinny new frames. Perhaps it’s because they don’t seem to be particularly happy about it, but this strip borders on ‘cursed image’ territory, even as the simple concept of the largest animal on Earth taking pains to slim down makes perfect sense.
5Catch Willie
Far Side Loves Poking Fun at the Movies
In the world ofFar Side, 1993’sFree Willy- about a young boy saving an orca from captivity - apparently spawned a far more cynical sequel (or perhaps a knock-off, going by the copyright-safe misspelling of ‘Willy.') With its surrealism and penchant for bizarre vignettes, it’s easy to argue thatFar Side was a precursor to ‘millennial humor’- there’s certainly something about the subtitle"And make him do tricks"that makes this strip feel like it could have been written yesterday.
However, another element that keepsFar Side’s movie gags feeling fresh is that Larson had a great instinct for the films and characters that would still be relevant years and even decades down the line.
FromJawstoKing KongtoThe Godfather,Larson seldom misses with his movie references, helping to keepFar Sidefeeling witty to even first-time readers.
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4Beached Whale
Larson’s Darkest Whale Gag
In this strip, an overambitious fly lays claim to the entirety of a beached whale, as Larson uses the sheer scale of the animal to convey how silly it is for the insect to be worrying about its portion size. The poor whale is a grim sight, and yet somehow not as haunting as the whales in the earlier ‘Fitness Class’ strip.
3Canning
Many of Far Side’s Animals Suffer Unhappy Marriages
The tuna/dolphin link returns in this grisly story of a dolphin wife killing her husband then canning his body as tinned tuna. The strip plays with past public confusion over exactlyhowcommercial tuna fishing was killing dolphins, and the fear that tinned tuna might be a mix of the two. In another example of mastering expressions, Larson includes the genius detail of one of the dolphin cops’ staring eye.
Larson loves the gag of unusual characters having marital woes, with everyone from dolphins to robots to aliens struggling with trouble in paradise.
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2The Whole Shmear
Far Side’s Humans are Rarely the Winners
In this strip, an aquatic show starring a trained dolphin and killer whale is about to goverywrong, as the orca eyes up its plump trainer and decides it’s not settling for a single herring. Fitting for a nature-loving creator who engaged in fundraising for conservationist causes, humans who think they have control over wild animals tend to meet grisly fates in Larson’s comics,
1Strange Sounds
This Strip Links Larson to His Literary ‘Twin’
In this strip, a group of scientists attempt to learn how to ‘speak’ dolphin, blind to the fact that their aquatic subjects are simply speaking in Spanish. The gag is reminiscent of Douglas Adams’The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which reveals that the apparent ‘tricks’ that dolphins perform for humans are not just their language, but also intended as a desperate warning that the planet is going to be destroyed. Ultimately, humanity isn’t smart enough to understand the message, and the dolphins leave for another dimension with a final message that translates to,“So long, and thanks for all the fish.“It’s just one way in which Adams and Larson’s work shares the same dark-but-goofy sense of humor.
Those are the 10 funniestFar Sidecomics starring dolphins and whales - let us know which you think is the funniestby voting in our reader poll below.
The Far Side
The Far Side is a humorous comic series developed by Gary Larson. The series has been in production since 1979 and features a wide array of comic collections, calendars, art, and other miscellaneous items.
